Papercuts
by HandsRShaking
Summary: As Judy attends high-school like a normal teen as she is, a rather peculiar mammal attempts to disrupt her rather peaceful life. But what she doesn't expect is a pitiful bet turned into a bridge for her to get to know the other mammal. A highschool AU that will focus more on the competitive sides of our two beloved mammals.


" _Fear, treachery, blood lust. Thousands of years ago, these were the forces that ruled our world. A world where prey were scared of predators. And predators had an uncontrollable, biological urge to maim and maul, and..."_

The video was cut short by a biology teacher, a male lion sitting in his desk fiddling with the TV remote, as he thought it was unnecessary to continue on. He looked around the rather spacious classroom of 28 different mammals. "Allright I think that's enough of that. So, can anyone tell me what that video was all about?"

"It was about a couple finding love in a cruise ship, but cut short as the ship crashed against an iceberg which killed the guy and made the girl live her life without her loved one. " A male jaguar sitting at the back of the classroom answered drowsily and from the looks of it, just came out of napping.

"I think you got the wrong movie, Renato." A female elephant sitting at the sides said to the jaguar which prompted the whole class to laugh.

"I would have to agree with Francine on this one, a good guess as usual, even though you never actually got one right before, but at least you tried" The teacher tried to assure the jaguar which earned him a sleepy smile from him. "But for mammal's sake, can you at least get through one discussion without having your lights out?"

"Of course Mr. Lionheart, I'll try." As Renato finished saying, he proceeded to make himself comfortable in his armchair and slept yet again.

"Does this guy even get enough sleep?" Mr. Lionheart said to no one in particular. "Anyways, if anyone actually knows what the video is all about….." The Lion was looking around the room to find a suitable reward for that one smart mammal, and found it he did, right on his desk and gestures at it. "I'll give them this chocolate bar."

And in the middle of the class, a female bunny was frantically waving her hands to try and catch the attention of the lion teacher, even though no one else is.

Mr. Lionheart looked at the bunny and smiled, "Yes, Hopps?"

The rabbit immediately stood up, standing straight with all her bunny glory and answered "It was all about our ancestors way of life back then, how they survived with their own wits and strength. Our current generation has since-"

"Ok Judy, I think we get it", Said jokingly by a male wolf sitting at the sides which prompted the class to laugh.

Mr. Lionheart looked at the wolf, seemingly disappointed and said. "How many times do I need to tell you Wolford? It's rude to disturb others while they are answering. " The lion then looked at Judy and smiled, "But alas, a great answer as usual, Hopps."

 _Thank god Renato cut it short, it would have been a 30 minute discussion again._ The lion teacher thought.

"Thanks Mr. Lionheart." As Judy was about to sit down, a rather chubby male cheetah sitting just beside the doe tried to scoot his head to whisper to her. "Awesome answer as usual Judy." He then gave her a thumbs up.

"I'd be more surprised if Judy got a wrong answer." The elephant at the sides commented as she overheard the whisper between the two.

The rabbit started to reply when the school bell rang, signaling their lunch break.

Some students started to rush to the door to get to the cafeteria and others just slowly and casually taking their time to get out of the room whilst talking to their friends to let their classmates take their time in getting out. Judy along with her unlikely friends, Francine the elephant, Renato the jaguar and Benjamin the cheetah were undoubtedly the latter.

Whilst talking to one another and about to get out of the room, Judy was suddenly called by the teacher as he was just finishing packing his stuff into his bag and signaled her friends that she will catch up with them later. "Judy, you almost forgot your reward for answering the question." Mr. Lionheart handed with open paws the choco

late bar he pointed earlier, but the doe refused to accept it.

"Oh, no you can keep it, Mr. Lionheart." The rabbit waved at the lion, dismissing the teachers reward. "Besides, it's already a week old already." Judy added which made Mr. Lionheart caught off guard.

"Wait, how'd you know it was already a week old?" The lion asked as he was genuinely curious. "Because I was the one who gave it to you a week ago on teacher's day remember?" And with the lions question sated, the doe walked off while waving goodbye to her teacher as she was trying to catch up to her friends that have already gone off ahead.

As Judy left the room, the lion teacher was still reeling from his supposedly forgetful nature. _Wait, last week was teacher's day? Damn my old age._ Mr. Lionheart thought as he finally got out of the room.

* * *

Meanwhile at the cafeteria, Judy and her gang of unlikely friends enjoyed their lunch whilst talking with one another that actually earned them a warning from one of the student council member, a gazelle, aptly named Gazelle, also eating in the cafeteria as they were loud than what is accepted, especially Benjamin.

After the warning, they tried to make an effort to lower their voices to a minimum which favored the gray rabbit. As much as she enjoys talking with her friends, being loud just isn't her forte as she sometimes likes to think to herself to the point that she spaces out unconsciously. Like what she's doing right now.

The rabbit hadn't noticed that her friends now turned completely silent as they looked at their rabbit friend which kind of alarmed the gazelle council member as she was taken aback how they can turn silent so fast as they were so loud not too long ago.

Francine, the elephant of the group coughed in her hands that woke the rabbit up from her deep thoughts.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Asked the elephant in a gentle manner as she was concerned for her friend. "You just look like you were thinking " _did I bury the body deep enough that no one would notice"._ " Francine uttered jokingly to ease the tension.

"Well….." Judy scratched her head, appearing to be guilty of something. Her actions made the elephant drop her smile to a frown which made her chuckle. "Just kidding" Judy replied as she smiled to Francine to dispel her concern. "I was just thinking that maybe I haven't really done much in highschool. Were already in our 3rd year but all I've done is join a quiz bee and joined some clubs here and there. It just seems so lacking compared to others." The rabbit finished saying with a slight sad expression.

"Quiz beeS, with an S, you already joined two contests that they hold annually here in Zootopia High. And you've finished 2nd and 1st to those contests respectively which earned you the title of Quiz Bee Queen, and rightfully so. You should be more than proud of that, and don't you dare compare your highschool life with those cheesy romcoms they show on tv every weekend." Her chubby cheetah friend tried to lift up her spirits, and she's got to hand it to him, it worked.

"Thanks Ben, I needed that, but still, you just can't help but think of it sometimes you know." Judy tried to smile as to not worry her friend any further.

"If you want, we could burst into a song and everyone here might join in, that ought to spice up your highschool life. " The jaguar said in a straight face which made it hard to judge if he's joking or not.

"As tempting as that sounds, I'll have to pass on that, I'm not really much of a singer anyways." The rabbit said embarrassingly.

Renato recalled one time they went to a karaoke bar to celebrate one of their classmates birthday, and when it was Judy's turn to sing, well…, lets just say that Judy barely made it halfway through the song before she was cut off to prevent further harm to their ears.

"Well, that much is true." The jaguar said.

"Way to sugarcoat that, Renato." The rabbit said sarcastically with a smile.

"You're welcome." Renato said with a smirk.

The friends continued their spicy chatter till the bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch break. As they walked back to their classroom, they expected their math teacher, Mr. Bogo, a large male buffalo to be their already as he was never late to the class, but as they arrived they were surprised as it was still their biology teacher, which is also their classroom adviser, present instead of their math teacher. And what's more surprising is the red fox besides their teacher. He's wearing the school uniform but they don't recognize him at all.

"Ok class sit down and settle. You might be thinking why this old lion is still in here instead of your math teacher, well, Math will still go on-" the majority of the student groaned after hearing the last part. "Oh shush, Math is necessary for your future, and Mr. Bogo is more than capable of teaching it, but that's not what I came here to say, because I actually have a pleasant surprise for you all." The lion then gestured to the red fox next to him. "We actually have a new transferee in our paws." Mr. Lionheart then leaned closer to the fox to instruct him to introduce himself.

The red fox looked at the happy faces of his soon to be classmates and sighed subtlety, which Judy took note of. The fox breathed slightly to brace for his inevitable introduction. "I'm Nick, Nick Wilde, I'm currently 17 years old living in the sad parts of happytown, an ironic name for a crappy place, but hey what can you do." Nick joked about his hometown as it was viewed to be crime ridden and dilapidated. The other students looked at him with pity and concern, while other with disgust, as such as he was expecting. "And I'm happy to be here in….wait what school is this again?" The whole room laughed at the fox from his out of the blue question.

The whole class soon realized as they looked at his face that he was actually serious and the laughter died down gradually.

"You mean you seriously didn't see the huge "Zootopia National High School" sign right above the school's entrance?" One of the students said to the fox.

Nick just shrugged at the statement. "I was kinda dragged here this morning by my mom after she suddenly woke me up saying she got me enrolled here." Some students continue to chuckle much to the enjoyment of the fox.

"If you're finished with the intro Nick, you can find an empty seat so you can sit." The old lion gestured to the class as he was guiding the fox.

"You mean the one empty seat in the room that is conveniently placed just for me? " Nick asked as he looked at the one end only empty seat just besides Judy.

The teacher answered by just smiling at the fox, which irritated him but did not show it. As he walked to the empty seat he noticed the rabbit looking at him as he walked closer. When the red fox arrived he pulled his seat so he could sit down and while he did this, he snubbed at the rabbit which made the doe confused and slightly mad, but still forced a smiled on her face.

When the fox finally sat down, Judy leaned in closer to Nick to try and talk to him, "Hi, I'm Judy" The doe extended a paw to the fox as she assumed he would shake it. "I've never really had the chance to talk to a fox before so this might be fun." Judy giggled with a forced smile as she still held her open paw to him, unfortunately the fox just looked at her paw without even moving his head, not really planning on shaking it.

"If you're waiting for me to introduce myself to you, I just did that." The fox didn't even try looking at the rabbit anymore, he tried to observe the class without moving his head much.

Judy was taken aback by Nick's answer as she went back to her seat and her smiled turned into a frown. "I'm sorry, did I do something that offended you?" She asked him as she thought of something that she did that might have made him angry for some reason.

The fox didn't even answer her as he continued to look everywhere besides the rabbit next to him.

The doe was about to keep asking him until their teacher made his presence known again. "Allright, I think my job here is done, I'll just call your math teacher from the faculty office." The class made another collective groan of disappointment. "Learn to love math, kids" The old lion said as he exited the room but seconds later, he returned to the room to get his forgotten case. "Oops, I keep forgetting stuff lately, I'm really getting old." He uttered while getting his case and hurrying to get to the office as to not let the cape buffalo wait any longer.

When the lion got out of the room, the red fox took his bag as he stood and walked out of the room. Seconds later after Nick got to the door, Judy hurried to get to him and when she stood at the doorway she called out to him. "Where are you going, math class is about to start." The fox stopped but didn't look back to the doe, "I got somewhere else to be." Nick took another step but stopped again as soon as Judy asked again. "What could be more important than math class?" The gray rabbit said with mild aggression as she hold math in a high regard. The fox moved his head to the side to look at her without moving his body to explain to her but chose not to instead as he closed his mouth and proceeded to walk away.

The doe didn't attempt to stop him anymore as she thought it was futile to even try as the fox clearly made up his mind. She did not accept this however and promised to herself to look for answers as to why Nick ditched class.

She went back to her seat with a slight frown while some of the students looked at her, curious of what just transpired. Finally, one of her friends came close to her to quell her concern. "What the hell just happened?" Francine looked at the rabbit with concerned eyes. Judy just chuckled as she was just thinking of the same exact question to what just transpired. "I think we both don't know the answer to that so if you have the slightest clue, I'm all ears" She pointed to her upright ears as she smiled to the elephant which made her chuckle.

"He probably has somewhere to be." Renato said while his head is comfortably rested in his armchair.

"That's exactly what he said to me." The rabbit replied

"Probably just wants to hang out somewhere instead." The chubby cheetah said.

"Or something might have happened in his home." The elephant uttered with concern in her voice.

"He didn't even have a cellphone with him, how would he know?" the jaguar piped up, not even bothering to look at his friends while he drowsed in his chair.

Judy's friends continued to make more reasons to why the fox ditched class. While her friends did that she just kept to herself, thinking of one thing to the fox.

"How dare he ditch math class."

* * *

 **Welp, there's my attempt at a highschool AU. I've never really done this before so if any of you have any concerns then feel free to review.**


End file.
